I'm Biggie: avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom in San Francisco, & former expat fluent in Japanese. 
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Simmered kabocha recipe
Sorry about the blog posting slowdown lately; I’ve been busy with the new forum about bento and packed lunches, and there just aren’t enough hours in the day with a four-year-old! The upside is that the forum is hopping and we’ve got volunteer moderators on board now. Full steam ahead!
Simmered kabocha squash is a favorite of mine — it’s one of the most flavorful squashes around, and is chock full of nutrients like beta carotene (especially when you eat the thin skin). Simmered kabocha is a staple in Japanese bento lunches, evoking strong memories for me of train station bentos and home cooking I ate in Japan. Simple to make, you can also transform any leftovers by mashing the cooked kabocha with a fork and making it into squash croquettes, substituting mashed squash for the mashed potatoes. Try it!
Simmered Kabocha
Some recipes call for cutting the kabocha into chunks first and then painstakingly peeling a bit of the skin off of each chunk to aid cooking. That’s WAY too time-consuming and fiddly for me, so before I cube it I use a vegetable peeler to take random pieces of skin off of the whole kabocha first.
- 1 small kabocha squash, about 2 pounds
- 1.5 cups dashi (bonito fish broth, or you can use hon dashi instant granules for convenience)
- 2 Tb mirin
(sweetened cooking sake, or use regular sake and increase the sugar slightly. You can omit this entirely, but then increase the sugar to 2 Tb)
- 1 Tb sugar
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- Thoroughly wash and rinse the kabocha before cutting, using a vegetable brush to remove any dirt.
Cut the kabocha in half and remove the seeds and stringy insides (I use an ice cream scoop for this, but a spoon works well too). Cut into quarters, and use a vegetable peeler or a sharp knife to take off little bits of skin from random places all over the kabocha. This will help it cook evenly and flavor the inside of the squash. Cut the kabocha into 1.5-inch chunks.- Put the kabocha chunks skin side down in a single layer in a saute pan or deep frying pan.
- Mix together the dashi, mirin, sugar, and soy sauce, and pour into the pan with the kabocha.
- Cover with a drop lid or drop lid substitute (see note below)
- Bring to a boil over high heat, turn the heat down to medium low. Simmer kabocha until almost tender, about 20 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let it cool in the remaining liquid for 15 minutes to develop the flavor. Serve warm or at room temp.
Equipment Note: My Oxo Good Grips vegetable peeler
Packing Tip: I store the kabocha in its simmering liquid in the refrigerator, but that makes it too moist to put in my son’s bentos as is. For optimal packed lunch food safety, first drain the kabocha in a strainer or on paper towels before packing, like I did in the lunch shown at left.
Freezing Tip: You can freeze the cooked kabocha for speed bentos. Drain and freeze in individual portions, or go the IQF (individual quick freeze) route for maximum flexibility. After draining, spread the chunks out on a metal baking sheet or pan and freeze. Once frozen, transfer to a freezer bag so that you can pull out a few chunks at a time.
* * * * *
A drop lid, or otoshi-buta, is a lightweight wooden lid that fits down inside of a pan and floats on the surface of simmering food. I picked these up at Daiso (Japanese discount store with branches internationally) for US$1.50 each, but for this recipe you could also just fashion a quick substitute out of a round of parchment paper or use a regular lid that’s too small for the pan you’re using.
FURTHER READING:
- “Leftover Remake” posts: turning leftovers into something different
- Lunch in a Box Forum
- All recipes on Lunch in a Box
- Bento FAQ and Biggie’s Top Speed Tips
January 14th, 2009 | Categories: glutenfree, lactose free, leftover remake, recipe | 
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24 Responses to “Simmered kabocha recipe”
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January 14th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
What would you recommend for us vegetarians that think fish is loathsome as an alternate seasoning for the dashi?
January 14th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
@1 from Kara: Vegetable broth would be a good substitute for the dashi.
January 14th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
What perfect timing! I just bought a small pack of chopped kabocha at the ???? yesterday and was trying to think of how to cook them. I usually cook them in similar ingredients but make a soup out of it. This looks really yummy though, and I have all the ingredients! I’m living in Tokyo for the year and I usually have trouble finding the ingredients required for a lot of the foodgawker recipes, so this is great. : )
January 14th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Hey Biggies I have a suggestion for the forum,
for the one where to show the bentos I think there should be topics with the main ingredients of the bentos to be shown (i.e. vegetarian bentos, meat bentos, etc.)
so that it would be easier to find what one is looking for.
January 15th, 2009 at 6:44 am
yummy! I love cooking with squash and just blogged about a great recipe myself http://arewenearlythereyet.wordpress.com/ I would love to hear what you think of it! Great blog, thanks xxx
January 17th, 2009 at 6:07 am
How long do kabocha store? I bought one a while ago, and haven’t gotten gotten around to cooking it yet. It is still hard, with no squishy spots that would make me immediately throw it away. It was an impulse buy at one of our local markets, and I just haven’t figured out what to do with it yet. Do you think it might still be good?
January 17th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Didn’t know if I’d have a chance to try this one, but I went to the Lotte Korean grocery store here in Columbus, OH today for other things and there was kabocha. I wonder if you could substitute other squash, like acorn or butternut.
January 18th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
For anyone who is having problems finding kabocha, buttercup squash can be substituted. They aren’t exactly the same thing, but they both belong to the same species. In fact, at my local Mitsuwa, buttercup squash is sold as kabocha.
January 22nd, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Delicata squash or carnival squash would be good, too.
I made this last night! I substituted a diluted vegetable broth for the dashi. It’s wonderful! A little sweet for me (I used mirin) so I might cut the sugar in half. I also cooked mine for too long. My pieces were cut much smaller than Biggie’s and they didn’t need the full 20 minutes to simmer. Still, I just mashed them up a little bit with a fork!
A DEFINITE addition to my repertoire, thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:46 am
Delicious! :9
BTW- Try adding kabocha to your Laotian/Thai curry if you ever make any. They’re just like carrots that you’ve stewed for a long time… only sweeter!
May 6th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
I tried this tonight and enjoyed it immensely! This was easier than the roast kabocha that I made before. And it gave me a reason to open the bottle of sake that had been sitting around the house. I like your recipe-writing style.
August 28th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Arigato for the great Kabacha recipe! I’ve learned that I was adding too much liquid before and making it too soggy. But no more! It’s a small world–I’m V’s friend and the last time I saw you was probably last Halloween….or a birthday party last November? Looks like you are doing well–your website comes up first when I type in Kabacha recipes!
October 31st, 2009 at 7:35 am
Thanks for the recipe. My mother used to make this all the time (she was Japanese) but it’s one of those dishes I took for granted, never figuring out how to make it. She used to add chunks of peeled potatoes in there, too. That gave some texture variation so I’ll be doing that.
November 4th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
@12 Elana: Such a small world, Elana! I totally remember you. Missed you and your daughter at the Halloween Festival with V on Saturday…
November 4th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
@13 from Stacy: Peeled potato chunks in with the kabocha? Sounds intriguing as a variation; I’ll try it out next time. Thanks for the tip!
March 2nd, 2010 at 4:13 pm
I tried kabocha once during a visit to Japan and loved it! I happened to find one at the market this afternoon!
Gonna try this sometime this week. Thanks!
September 8th, 2010 at 9:12 am
[...] dishes at Japanese restaurants. Try it roasted in this beautiful Kabocha with Kale recipe, or in Simmered Kabocha, a traditional bento [...]
October 5th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
[...] Simmered Kabocha [...]
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:27 pm
[...] simple kabocha squash since I had a half a squash going dry and weird in the fridge. I follow Biggie’s instructions over at Lunch in a Box, and I love the way it turns [...]
December 12th, 2011 at 7:49 pm
very tasty!
December 13th, 2011 at 9:26 am
How does its taste compare to pumpkin? Is it sweet?
January 25th, 2012 at 12:54 pm
Great recipe! I grew some Kabocha in the garden last summer and cooked it today.
Thanks to your recipe it tasted just like in Japan!=D
December 10th, 2012 at 9:39 am
[...] This recipe does make quite a bit, so feel free to cut the squash in half but keep the liquid measurements the same. It produces a strong umami flavour which is perfect for a side dish or addition to a bento box. Enjoy! Dashi-simmered kabocha squash (adapted from Lunch in a Box) [...]
December 17th, 2012 at 7:48 pm
Made this a couple of weeks ago. Interestingly enough, the squash ended up tasting very much like boiled/steamed chestnuts. Tasty.